Misaki Ogura
Misaki Ogura (Ogura Misaki) is an acquaintance of Kasumi Hazuki. She befriended Natsuo Fujii, though quite hesitantly on Natsuo's part during a mixer. Appearance and personality Misaki is a young woman with long, flowing hair that is parted over her left eye, in which her left eye is mostly covered so she can conceal her burn scar. She wears a bland smile and has what is described to be empty looking eyes, as if she is tired of life. Misaki is a cynical person with a dreary outlook on life as she is suffering from depression and uses drugs to cope. In spite of this, she can still put on a friendly face, if only to conceal her real emotions and get to know someone she's interested in. Background Three years before Misaki was introduced, she was a former aspiring teenage model as she appeared in many nationwide publications. One day, she used a moisturizer that was maliciously tainted with a toxic ingredient, leaving a terrible burn on her face. She was compensated and removed from her contract in order to avoid a scandal. Regardless, Misaki's dreams were crushed and she fell into despair. Since then, Misaki has drifted around from place to place, working odd jobs and even doing prostitution and criminal activity in order to make money and get by. She got to know Kasumi Hazuki by frequenting the restaurant she worked at. Plot Fumiya Kurimoto, eager to meet women, aggressively pushes for Natsuo Fujii to host a mixer with Kasumi Hazuki and her friends. It is during this mixer that Natsuo first encounters Misaki. In a predicament that closely mirrored his original meeting with Rui Tachibana, Misaki asks Natsuo if he wants to sneak off together. Natsuo declines her offer and goes on his way. Despite this, Misaki follows him all the way to his apartment. Though Natsuo does whatever he can to shrug her off, she ultimately ends up staying at the apartment with him. The next morning, Natsuo is relieved to wake up seeing Misaki gone. Unfortunately, he enters the bathroom and walks in on her using his shower. Embarrassed, Natsuo demands that she leave immediately. Instead, Misaki leaves the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, pushes Natsuo on the bed and attempts to seduce him. Natsuo eventually relents and pushes her away, revealing the burn scar on her face, in which Natsuo apologizes and inquires about the scar. Misaki explains it was from her modeling days when someone sabotaged her by putting a foreign ingredient into her moisturizer, burning her face and effectively ending her career. Though she was compensated for the incident, it was under the agreement that she keep it under wraps to prevent a scandal with the company. For the next three years afterwards, she bounced from job to job, even delving into prostitution to make ends meet. Pitying her, Natsuo allows her to stay a little longer, under the condition that she finds work and is actively looking for another place to stay. It is at this moment Kasumi sees Misaki in the street, exchanging something from a strange man. The next day, Misaki offers money to Natsuo, which he refuses because he felt wrong taking what little money she had (though just as much, he also wanted to discourage her from staying with him.) Misaki then offers to take Natsuo out on a dinner date to a fancy restaurant with a view of the city. As they enjoyed the sights, Natsuo also confides to Misaki that he has been burnt out from writing. It is at this moment Natsuo realizes that he and Misaki are both lost in emptiness. That same night, Misaki receives a phone call and apologizes to Natsuo as she leaves. She didn't return that night to the apartment, and Natsuo realizes he doesn't even have a way to contact her. The next morning, Natsuo wakes up and sees Misaki again, sleeping under the kotatsu as usual. He sees a note left by Misaki that reads "Sorry about yesterday." Later that day, Hina Tachibana stops by Natsuo's apartment to drop off some food. To her surprise, a man unknown to her inquires her about Misaki. After claiming to not know her, the man leaves, wondering if he got the right information. This leads Hina to tell Masaki Kobayashi about the incident, which he uses his Yakuza resources to investigate. That night, Natsuo helps train Misaki on how to interview for a job, much to his dismay since she seems to not be taking it seriously. As they're about to sleep, Misaki asks Natsuo what he plans to do after graduating college, to which he says he's unsure and is just thinking of getting a regular job. Misaki suggests to Natsuo on running away together to see the aurora borealis. Natsuo contemplates her offer as he falls asleep. The next day, Misaki is walking around in a shopping district. She then comes upon an advertisement for a magazine she was originally supposed to be modeling for. Fast forward to that night, she arrives to Natsuo's apartment inebriated and joins him in the shower, much to Natsuo's embarrassment and protest. Misaki then attempts to seduce Natsuo in the shower, stimulating him with oral sex. Natsuo finally begins to relent and asks her if sleeping with her will make her feel any better. Although Misaki says it would, she immediately dashes to the toilet to vomit and passes out. Misaki later wakes up later on Natsuo's bed. Natsuo is worried she may have alcohol poisoning and wants to bring her to a hospital. Misaki suddenly becomes frantic and begs Natsuo to not bring her there, feigning her reasoning was because the hospital was a traumatic experience since they treated her for her burn. The next morning, Misaki graciously thanks Natsuo for taking care of her. She was a bit relieved Natsuo wouldn't tell her to leave afterwards, which he stated he couldn't find it in him to remove her in her current state. Natsuo then heads out, leaving her home alone. A few minutes later, Natsuo returns home after forgetting his phone, stumbling upon Misaki snorting drugs. Natsuo suddenly realizes this was how Misaki became inebriated the other day and admonishes her for committing a terrible crime under his roof. Misaki retaliates by saying she sneaked some into Natsuo's food in order to blackmail him from contacting the police. Although the threat fails to intimidate him, Natsuo looks upon her scarred face and forgives her, telling her he'll let it go this once if she makes an attempt to quit. As this happens, loud banging is heard from Natsuo's door. It turns out to be Misaki's dealer who is looking for her. As the dealer starts to get rough with Natsuo, Misaki reveals herself and discusses matters with him outside. Misaki then reveals to Natsuo that she's been drug running for over a year now and is in too deep to leave. Natsuo then confiscates the drugs from her and says he'll be hiding it, and threatens to take her to the police if she gives in, regardless if he's an accomplice or not. The next day, as Natsuo is visiting his sensei, Misaki stays at home and answers the door for Hina. Hina asks if Misaki is in some kind of trouble and is willing to help. Misaki is gracious for her offer and remarks that Hina and Natsuo are alike. Later that night, as Misaki is watching the cooking channel, she fights her urges to use drugs, but eventually caves in. As she searches the room, Natsuo appears and tells her he actually discarded the drugs. Misaki starts to break down and cry, telling Natsuo she's really trying to quit. After what Natsuo heard from his sensei about drug addiction, Natsuo knew he couldn't abandon her, not just out of sympathy, but because he could've just as easily been in her predicament. Natsuo tells Misaki that she needs to end this and talk to the police, which she finally agrees. As they walk towards the police station together, the dealer and his accomplices ambush them, binding and gagging them and forced them into a van. While they are in the van, Natsuo manages to sneak a call to Hina on his phone. Later, Natsuo and Misaki are thrown on the floor of an abandoned building. The thugs interrogate them on the drugs that Misaki has been stealing on the side for herself. Misaki denies this and Natsuo supports her statement, saying that he threw away the drugs and it was only a few grams that couldn't have been worth the value that they lost. Natsuo also tells them that Misaki has been trying to change, which makes the thug laugh and explain the futility of Misaki's actions, then kicks him repeatedly afterwards. Misaki tells the thug that Natsuo was not wrong, and he believed even Misaki had a future worth living for. The thug has had enough and pulls out a pistol to silence her, explaining that even if she goes straight, having Misaki as a loose end will be bad for him and his gang. However, he then points the gun towards Natsuo, claiming he will be first. As Misaki pleads for him to stop, Kobayashi suddenly appears with Hina behind him. Kobayashi then single-handedly dispatches the group of thugs with little effort, telling them that the gangster lifestyle isn't for them. As the leader of the thugs says Kobayashi is screwed because back up is on the way, he is shocked to see more Yakuza hanging outside the door with the supposed "backup" already been taken out. Once the ordeal was over, Misaki reaffirms her conviction to getting clean and making a future for herself. She also reveals she lied about spiking Natsuo's food with drugs, which Natsuo already knew. Although Natsuo wants to continue helping, Kobayashi tells him to let her go, saying that this is her fight. Kobayashi states that it's okay to run from what's hurting you if it leads you to a better place, but no matter where you go, you can't run from yourself. As Misaki goes on to live her life, Natsuo resolves to go back to living his own life as well. As of Chapter 230, Misaki is working under Kobayashi at his cafe and seems to be turning her life around. Trivia * Misaki's surname Ogura 'means "Small" ('o) and "Muku Tree" (gura). Category:Female characters